I started following the writings of HRH #EmirSanusi II from Gamji.com in the late nineties and early noughties. I had the privilege of meeting him at an International Conference on Sharia Family law in 2003 #Thread 1/19
organized by my then employers the International Human Rights Law Group (now Global Rights) @JibrinIbrahim17. You can accuse the Emir of many things, I don't hold brief for him, I am not qualified enough to do so and he is more than capable of doing so himself. 2/19
The one thing you can't accuse him of is cowardice and being a flip flop on issues. He has been consistent on his advocacy about the ills in our society in Northern Nigeria from his days as a columnist. His chosen focus is the family unit and the calls for the Muslim North 3/19
to implement Islamic Family Laws as provided in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW. He is especially passionate about the rights of Women and Children. Since becoming Emir, he has made efforts to codify these Laws and get them passed into law. 4/19
This monumental task was done in conjunction with The Ulama and NGOs to bring our laws up to date with our existing realities. There are no innovations there and nothing that is not already practised in many Muslim majority countries. 5/19
Advocacy takes on many forms and his favourite method is using his God-given oratory skills and platform to continually drum in the message that we are in crisis and our political leaders need to wake up. 6/19
This is a legitimate thing to do as all change in the history of the world started with preaching religious or political. Some other set of people having been made aware of the problem by the preachers can then take the movement to the next level of action. 7/19
Nobody in Northern Nigeria with the same platform and audience that the Emir commands had hitherto spoken up against these ills least of all taken action. If the Emir had not been talking in public, how many of us would even have known the extent of the issues? 8/19
I don't get the minutes of JNI meetings or any of the other fora some people suggest he speaks to in private. There is also no evidence to show that these fora or speaking in private have ever solved anything. 9/19
If you don't like what the Emir is saying, because you think he is insulting your dear Arewa then you need to take a look at yourself not him. The Emir to paraphrase his words 'by virtue of the circumstances of his birth, education, experience and personal achievements' 10/19
does not need to fight this battle. He is in the top 1% of the world in whichever society he is. To paraphrase another saying again, He is only holding up a mirror for us to see, breaking the mirror will not change the image, neither will cutting his hand or killing him 11/19
much less dethroning or disgrace him. Insults on Social Media and outright falsehood even less so. We have to stop lying and deceiving ourselves as a people. We have the worst human development indices in the world and our concern is that we are being insulted by the South. 12/19
Let me be very plain here, as long as we don't have the same cut off marks in Common Entrance Exams, we use Federal Character to get jobs etc the average Southerner will always feel superior and look down on us. 13/19
The average Southerners first contact and everlasting image of a Northerner is his Aboki, Mai Shayi, Suya man, Okada man Mai Guard and Shoe Shiner. In other words, an illiterate simpleton 'born throwey' doing menial jobs in Southern cities. 14/19
The South is aeons ahead of the North in terms of Human Development indices, one only needs to look at the numbers of Universities in the two regions or professionals. 15/19
We are so full of ourselves that many of us even consider the Yoruba Muslims inferior, people that have at least 3 Islamic Universities. The Emir is the least of your problem because he doesn't fit that stereotype and is just as educated as anyone in Nigeria. 16/19
In case you have still not figured it, I am a big fan and disciple of the Emir and his message. I pray that God Almighty preserves his honor and protect him from the fitina of his many enemies. 17/19
I pray and hope that somehow I will be among the younger generation that would somehow be able to change the story of our region by confronting the realities head-on without grandstanding and fighting imaginary enemies. 18/19
In the words of Dan Fodio 'Conscience is an open wound, only the truth can heal it'. 19/19 #End
